Support pledged for LGBT issues

Wednesday

Jul 16, 2014 at 11:06 AM

By William J. Dowdwdowd@wickedlocal.com

While the candidates for Congress from the 6th District participating in Go Out Loud’s Equality Forum Friday, June 20 in Salem surely have their differences, there is one issue they agree upon: advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights.Nonetheless, the forum perhaps provided some with insight into whose leadership style might best advance LGBT causes in Congress.The hour-long forum inside the Hawthorne Hotel provided five candidates — Democrats Congressman John Tierney, Seth Moulton, Marisa Defranco and John Devine, and openly gay Republican Richard Tisei – with a platform to plug their pro-LGBT work and make the argument that he or she is the best candidate to move equality causes forward.Boston Spirit magazine’s David Zimmerman moderated.Calling himself a “trailblazer” in his last congressional bid, Tisei would be the first openly gay congressman in his party if elected, a title he believes would give him political clout like former congressman Barney Frank possessed, only on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum.“We’re never going to have true equality unless we have people on both political parties willing to stand up for what’s right,” Tisei said. He could be a catalyst to bring his party’s positions on LGBT issues into the 21st century, he said.Tierney expressed an unequivocal skepticism that equality bills could be navigated through the House if it is controlled by Republicans after November’s midterm elections.“This current majority is not getting things done, and they’re not going to,” the congressman said. “The reality is anybody who tells you they’re going to become a part of the majority and change those minds and change their agenda, it’s not going to happen.”Tisei argued, however, the best way to win people over would be to “engage and reach out to opponents rather than attack and vilify" them.Tierney has said the other candidates are naive as to the culture and how business gets done in Washington, which would render them ineffective.The LGBT community saw two major victories with legislation passed between 2007 and 2010, when Democrats controlled both congressional chambers — the Matthew Shepard Act of 2009 and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 — both of which Tierney's votes supported.Since they gained House control in 2011, Republicans have yet to place one civil-rights bill on the House floor under Speaker John Boehner’s leadership, speakers noted.While Congress’ action on LGBT legislation has ground to a halt, the Supreme Court last year struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which now affords same-sex couples an ability to enjoy federal benefits that had previously been exclusively afforded to opposite-sex couples.However, the high court left intact Section 2 of DOMA, which specifically permits states to disregard same-sex marriages granted in other states.Candidates pledged to work toward repealing altogether what they believed to be a discriminatory law, pointing to the Marriage Equality Act as a conduit to do so, while noting that state and federal courts may act first.Devine made perhaps the biggest commitment on this front, saying he’d craft and then pass new legislation on marriage equality in his first term.“DOMA needs to be repealed,” he said. “A Marriage Fairness Act should be crafted and passed to provide [same-sex marriage] reciprocity across the states.”As an immigration lawyer, firebrand Defranco said she has been fighting in the trenches to help LGBT immigrants fleeing their “gay-hating” countries and facing hostile work environments.She touted an award she earned after she devoted over 400 pro-bono hours representing a deaf gay man from Uganda.“Talk about hostility. It was incredibly awful from the state, federal to non-profit levels,” she said. “I had to get in their face and be loud to make sure he didn’t get sent to his home country.”Had he been deported, he would have certainly faced prosecution or possibly death, she noted. Wit, grit and determination are coming with her to Washington, Defranco said.Seth Moulton compared and contrasted the privilege the law provides to him but not his gay brother, noting he doesn’t have to worry about losing his job and can marry whomever he loves anywhere in the United States.“So, despite all the progress we’ve made, we’re not equal, and that’s wrong,” Moulton said.Moulton said that while he was a Marine, he spoke up to have Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repealed, even when doing so was unpopular.“I know what it’s like to be in the minority,” he said, adding that he could bring that independent spirit of leadership to Washington.Moulton jabbed Tierney for his lack of being a lead sponsor, rather a co-sponsor, on substantive bills during his nine-term tenure.“I’m not going to go to Congress and be a congressman who talks about bills I co-sponsor,” he said. “Co-sponsoring is easy. It’s like liking a post on Facebook. It’s a nice gesture. You’re on the right side, but it doesn’t do anything to get the bill passed. ”Candidates also touched on creating legal protections for LGBT people in the workplace, laws that would allocate funding to address an epidemic of homelessness among LGBT youth and immigration policies for binational LGBT couples.“There is no way this Republican majority under its current leadership is going to move forward on any of these issues,” Tierney remarked when closing the event. “If we want to be serious, we have to change dynamics.”Tierney argued that voters should not be naïve and think that the person voters send to Washington in November can change those dynamics, he cautioned.Friday’s forum was the biggest political event Go Out Loud has organized since providing then-outgoing congressman Frank with a platform to endorse Tierney inside Salem’s Victoria’s Station two years ago.